College students seem to worry too much about their futures and how financially sound they want to be when they graduated from college. Therefore, this unnecessary worry has hindered many students from channeling their positive energy into something they love to do. They think they need to have it all figured out now. Thus, they forget to take creative classes that will aid in open-mindedness. William Zinsser, the author of “College Pressures”, speaks about the four types of pressures on college students. These pressures are economic pressure, parental pressure, peer pressure, and self-induced pressure. It is however common to see some of these pressures affect college students. I believe that some college students if not all can relate to all of the aforementioned pressures. …show more content…
I realize that I have been so worked-up about maintaining great academic standards in college that have hindered me from participating in social activities in college. Before I started college, I established some academic norms for myself. One of these norms is to attain “A’s in all my classes. Up till now, these norms constantly run through my mind. I found myself so self-indulge in my academic performance that I constantly check my performances in all my classes. Whenever any of my grades falls below 90-percentile, apprehension will set in. Furthermore, I will become perplexed, and I will start envisaging possible solutions to assuage my grade. Sometimes ago, I thought about signing myself up for extracurricular activities such as school clubs and organizations, choir, band, and so on. Unfortunately, I have not been able to join these programs due to self-induced pressure. Therefore, I can relate to the self-induced pressure mentioned by William Zinsser. The intriguing part of this pressure is that it is self-consuming. In addition, many students do not realize the magnitude of the pressure they put on
Even after the competitive race to get into desirable colleges has subsided, students are still finding themselves relying on the pressures of success to motivate them and push them forward. In Barbara Ehrenreich’s article “Bright-Sided”, Ehrenreich explains a mindset shared by those in the market economy that is also internalized by students in college and even workers in the workforce, “If optimism is key to material success, and if you can achieve an optimistic outlook through the discipline of positive thinking, then there is no excuse for failure” (Ehrenreich 538). Through Ehrenreich’s proposed positive thinking concept, the stress and pressures that young adults place on themselves are self-imposed and intertwined with their logic and reasoning, but those pressures are initially driven into their mindset by society. People in current society are brought up to believe that they as individuals must take responsibility for their own success; students think that if they use positive thinking, they will get exactly where they want to be, and if they fail, it is because they did not work hard enough. It is exactly this ideology that leads to students presenting “signs of depression, anxiety, and suicide ideation” (Alicia Kruisselbrink Flatt, The College
As the economy evolves and the job market continues to get more competitive, it’s becoming harder to have a successful career without some kind of college degree. This creates a belief in many young students that college actually is a commodity, something they must have in order to have a good life. There’s many different factors that influence this mindset, high schools must push the importance of the student’s willingness and drive to further their education. College isn’t just a gateway to jobs, but it is an opportunity to increase knowledge and stretch and challenge the student which in return makes them a more rounded adult and provides them with skills they might lack prior to
The “push to be perfect” (Thomas) is at an all-time high. Pressure for perfection from peers, parents, teachers and coaches is so unreasonably high that many students don’t think that they will ever be able to achieve it. A student feels that it is impossible to get good grades, be athletic, in multiple organizations, and most of all appear to be happy. Students have turned to cheating, drug/ alcohol abuse, and even suicide to try and cope. They are competing with friends for top spots, and believe that if they don’t beat them, they are a failure. Not only other students, but parents play a big roll, too. Their own parents and the parents of their peers will compare kids. New Trier High School’s Jim Conroy said that the biggest problem about pressure comes from the parents who compare (Robbins). With all...
In Jennie Capo Crucet 's essay, “Taking My Parents To College,” Crucet describes her own experience as a freshman college student who was faced with many challenges that were unknown to her, as well as the cluelessness of what the beginning of her freshman year would look like. I felt like the biggest impression Crucet left on me while I was reading her essay, was the fact that I can relate to her idea of the unknown of college life. Throughout her essay, she described her personal experiences, and the factors one might face as a freshman college student which involved the unknown and/or uncertainty of what this new chapter would bring starting freshman year of college. Crucet’s essay relates to what most of us
In the novel, What the Best College Students Do written by Ken Bain, we learn about how college student goes through rough times in their college life. The author brings up a common issue that occurs in the academic life of college students. It is the need of having self confidence and self esteem. Bain believes that if a student loves and admires themselves it will give the student a better advantage of having a well-being lifestyle than all their other peers that are having difficulties. Many college students focus mainly on their grades other than the knowledges that they are learning in class. The idea of having perfect grades in all the subjects are limiting the students from approaching activities that they might be interested.
The multiple choices students have today in college have made the university a party environment, resulting in complacent students. Mark Edmundson raises important questions and makes valid points in this essay that are worth thinking about. If people don’t take a look at our present college system and start thinking outside the box, the college education system will continue on its downward spiral of consumerism. It is fun to graduate high school and go to college to party and to have a comedic professor, but there is so much more to college then having fun. People need to realize that by challenging student, students can then start to recognize their own potential end become better for it. Learning and utilizing the information that is being taught in college is essential. “Everyone is born with their own mind, all that is left to do is break out of the stereotypical college student mold, and use
Going through college should not be as easy as going through a drive-thru at a fast food restaurant. Young adults should be interactive and critically thinking throughout their education, not disinterested of it. Author Simon Benlow, in his essay “Have It Your Way: Consumerism Invades Education,” believes that students are turning to consumerist ways, not thanks to the college’s culture (139). Since my return to community college, there has been a trend with the younger adults: Not caring.
Zinsser’s work entitled “College Pressures” intent to expose a critical flaw within the educational system, in hope that it will encourage students to relax when it come to their academic success. Zinsser’s is doing more than illustrates a difficult situation, he is enforcing new ideas and principle just as: academic freedom and freedom to explore career opportunities without judgement and criticism from the school system and their parents. By enforcing these principle Zinsser’s hopes to awaken a new era where students are free from pressured sales tactics from both parents and society when come to academic success.
Coming to college as an adult, we have many expectations and preconceptions of what college will or will not be. The expectations we have can influence our college life for the better or the worse. My experience since starting college has been an interesting one. People have misconceptions about college because they do not know what to expect. After doing some research, I have concluded that there are three major factors that are often misunderstood about college life. The first is the financial aspect of college. Second, is the relationship between the professors and students. Third is time management. These three factors play an important role in why people are afraid to go down the path to college.
It seems as though the majority of college students these days aren’t looking to further their education because it’s what they really want, they do it to please their parents, to be accepted by society, or because there’s nothing else for them to do (Bird, 372). These expectations have led to students being unhappy and stressed, and have pushed them into a school or a job that they don’t particularly care for.
For many college students, the only time the relation between learning and wisdom becomes evident is when an exam is placed before him or her, and the nature of the college experience abruptly changes from passive learning to the conveyance of that learning, under the constraints of time, pressure, and the endurance of the muscles in the hand. There is, however, an alternative to passive learning, one that many students shy away from out of fear of embarrassment or scorn, and, to be truthful, out of sloth. These students attend college without purpose, without direction, and with only a vague notion of what they truly possess a passion for. They attend class and that is all. When the class proceeds, they do not speak, they do not question, they simply exist, as stones do, and listen in rock-like silence. And they learn. In the most painful, difficult way possible, they learn.
College is a dream for everyone that wants to succeed. College is also not so easy for everyone to accomplish. Having a degree in any area is great but does everyone know what you had to go through in order to get a degree. Many of the pressures students faced in the 1970s have remained the same but over time some have changed extremely to affect the college life of a student today. Recently tuition is at a very high rate compared to back in the 1970s. Today many students are pressure to succeed they put their own health at risk in order to pass a class and an exam. Students also face social pressure from friends and family.
Education is a lifelong endeavor, but it’s during our formative school years where we learn our most important lessons. These lessons, while learned when young, stay with us for the rest of our lives. As college students, we can call on these lessons to help us when adversity presents itself. Being prepared can be the difference between failing or passing a final exam. Learning to question authority could someday lead us to challenge something we know is incorrect. Learning from our failures and understanding our shortcomings, is crucial to our success as college students. Consequently, we can apply these lessons to other areas of our lives, after all, life will never stop overwhelming us.
Being in college, writers and directors make it seem so marvelous in the movies. With everybody singing and dancing, having a blast with their friends, going out every night, and living a stress free life. When in reality, it is like stepping onto a battlefield. You have to fight hard if you want to come back home safe and sound. When in college, students who believe they are smart and prepared survive. The students who are careless will fail, and some will merely cross the finish line missing a limb or two. It is important to know what category of students you fall into; your future depends on it. One way to classify college students is through their attitude towards school.
Living up to my resolution, I joined several clubs, both in and out of school and academic and recreational. I also met some of my very best friends in high school. Achieving all of this, friends, memberships to academic clubs and good grades, made up my first successful experience in high school. I was driven by the years in middle school and the promise that I made to myself at the end of eighth grade. Throughout my under classmen years I exceled in all subjects and thoroughly enjoyed the clubs I had joined. I think my downfall for the last two years of school was that I took for granted my good grades and as my classes got more rigorous I didn’t change the way I learned the material, but continued on the same path that I had been following my entire academic career, even when my grades were slipping slightly. Halfway through my senior year, I realized I needed to change the way I was learning the curriculum my instructors were teaching. I’ve always been the type of student to take good notes or listen to a lecture and understand everything the first time around, as was the case in elementary school and middle school. But my more rigorous classes proved to be a challenge for me and I did not know the proper way of learning the material on my own. I started by asking more questions in class and then going to my friends for help on subjects I didn’t understand. After many questions and after school tutor